Hearth's Warming Eve: the True Story
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic does not belong to me, nor does any other franchise, series, or any other intellectual property I may reference or mention.
Hearth’s Warming Eve is a favorite holiday of many of the ponies of Equestria; it is known as a time of festivities, including drinks (both alcoholic and non), food, gifts, and friendship. One of the popular traditions is a play depicting what actually happened all those years ago, of the events that founded Equestria itself. While this is a beloved tradition, the tale told is a rather distorted interpretation of the actual events, changed to suit a more modern audience. This story is intended to capture something a bit closer to the actual events, as they happened so many years ago.
Long ago, before the princesses had even come to be, ponies were not as inclined towards friendship and harmony as they are now; the land they inhabited, Ponyland, had been their ancestral home, but, as their society grew, the three races began to fight over what was theirs.
The Unicorns, consisting mainly of nobles and scholars, deemed labor, such as growing food, beneath them, and instead forced the earth ponies to toil away on their land. The Pegasi, angry that the Unicorns had forced them into military service, demanded that the Earth Ponies give them food due to their controlling the weather to make the food grow well in the first place. The Earth Ponies, unhappy at their treatment, demanded that the Unicorns pay them for their work and the Pegasi protect them from any dangers. The Unicorn lords refused, claiming that allowing the Earth Ponies to eat the food they grew was payment enough, and the Pegasi mercenaries assigned to guard them did more damage than the dangers they fought
As the races fought, the land slowly began to grow colder; each winter was harsher, and each spring came later. Soon, growing food was nearly impossible, as there was only one month out of each year that was warm enough for even grass to live.
The Earth Ponies, angered at their increasingly bad treatment, had their current leader, Chancellor Puddinghead, and her assistant, Smart Cookie, venture off to find a place free of persecution. At the same time, the Unicorn Princess and her handmaiden, the scholar Clover, ventured off on their own, seeking a new land for her to rule, as the Queen had given birth to a colt and declared it the heir to the throne. Meanwhile, Commander Hurricane and her personal concubine (something that most high-ranking officials of ponyland had) Private Pansy also set out to search for a land with less wild weather.
The Earth Ponies, built for long, arduous travel, arrived at the base of Canterlot Mountain after two months. They quickly claimed the land in the name of the Earth Ponies, and soon had set up camp in a nearby cave. One week later, the Pegasi, who could travel quickly in fair weather, arrived, and agreed to maintain good weather for growing food in exchange for a fair share. Months passed, and the Pegasi and Earth Ponies that had remained in Ponyland began a mass exodus to the new land of Equestria.
The Unicorns, alarmed by their slaves and military disappearing alongside their princess, began to panic. They sent out their finest scholars, save Clover, who was missing, to find the Princess, and they soon discovered her and Clover trapped in a cave a few miles from Ponyland, in bad health from starvation and thirst. They were soon nursed back to health, but the Unicorns, distressed at their dwindling supplies, began to flee Ponyland in search of warmer climes and new slaves. They soon discovered Equestria, and attempted to corral the Pegasi and Earth Ponies into the same conditions as before.
While it is unknown how the three races began fighting, as the Pegasi and Earth Ponies had allied themselves, the three pony races soon found themselves embroiled in war. Just like before, the land grew colder, the growing season shorter, and soon their new home became just as cold as the old.
The leaders of each tribe, Chancellor Puddinghead, Princess Platinum, and Commander Hurricane, alongside their cohorts, Smart Cookie, Clover the Clever, and Private Pansy, were eventually the sole survivors of the bitter cold and war. They holed themselves inside the cave the Earth Ponies first inhabited, and they were nearly attacking each other save for the desperate need to survive. Princess Platinum, enraged by her living conditions, verbally attacked the Earth Ponies for not laying on the far side of the cave. She claimed that the Earth Ponies would be punished for their insolence, and Chancellor Puddinghead fought back, claiming that the Unicorns were a blight upon the earth and did nothing for anyone else. Soon Commander Hurricane, too, began to fight, albeit verbally, claiming that the nobility and politicians were the issue, not the Unicorns.
Soon, all three leaders became encased in ice, and their associates were not far behind. Smart Cookie, the friendliest of the group, said two sentences.
“Ah don’t hate any ‘a ‘yall; ah wish that we could have just gotten along!”
Private Pansy began bemoaning the fate of their collective tribes, and Clover cried for those lost, Unicorn, Pegasus, and Earth Pony alike. Soon all three were crying over the fate of all of their tribes, and the ice began to melt. Princess Platinum was the last in the cave to thaw, and immediately began spewing her hatred for the other tribes, but Smart Cookie tied her mouth shut with a nearby rope, and Clover forced Platinum to look at the growing ice. Princess Platinum understood, and managed to keep quiet.
The land slowly recovered, though many were lost; four great funerals were held, one by each tribe and one for all three. Those who remained realized that their fighting had caused the great cold, and soon vowed to never fight again. Those who supported the status quo had either died during or after the war, save for Princess Platinum, who abolished the oppressive system that had caused such disaster and stepped down from her position, fearful for her life if she should ever cause trouble again.
The six who had brought prosperity back to the tribes soon became prosperous themselves, and eventually became parents. Chancellor Puddinghead, now Matriarch Puddinghead, had three foals, each of whom were talented in manipulating the ground beneath them and had multiple foals of their own; Smart Cookie had a large, indeterminate number of foals, all of whom were talented in farming different kind of food and soon grew into several large clans; Private Pansy had a single foal, and died in childbirth, leaving her foal under the care of Commander Hurricane, who raised it alongside her own; Princess Platinum had only one foal, as common for the former Unicorn nobles; and Clover the Clever, the student of Starswirl the Bearded, left no record of a family, though there are and were those who claim to be descended from her.